Difference between revisions of "Chris Gibson"

m(Text replace - "calculated net worth<ref>This figure represents the total percentage growth from either 2004 (if the member entered office in 2004 or earlier) or their first year in office (as noted in the chart below).<ref>" to "calculated net worth<ref>)

Prior to his congressional career, Gibson served as a Colonel in the United States Army National Gaurd.

Based on analysis of multiple outside rankings, Gibson is a more moderate right of center Republican Party vote. As a result, he may break with the Republican Party line more than his fellow members.

Biography

Gibson was born in Rockville Centre, New York. He earned a B.A. from Siena College in 1986 and an M.P.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1995 and 1998 respectively.[4]

Career

Gibson served in the United States Army National Guard throughout university, joining as an officer after earning his B.A. in 1986.
Over the course of his 24 year Army career, Gibson rose to the rank of colonel and was deployed 7 times; including 4 combat tours to Iraq, and separate deployments to Kosovo, the Southwestern US for a counter-drug operation, and to Haiti where he commanded the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team (BCT) during the opening month of that humanitarian relief operation.

Other key assignments included tours teaching American Politics at the United States Military Academy at West Point, serving as a Congressional Fellow with US Representative Jerry Lewis (R-CA), and completing a Hoover National Security Affairs Fellowship at Stanford University.[5]

Key votes

113th Congress

The second session of the 113th Congress enacted into law 114 out of the 3,036 introduced bills (3.8 percent). Comparatively, the 112th Congress had 4.2 percent of introduced bills enacted into law in the second session.[10] For more information pertaining to Gibson's voting record in the 113th Congress, please see the below sections.[11]

National security

NDAA

Gibson voted in opposition of HR 1960 - the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. The bill passed the House on June 14, 2013, with a vote of 315 - 108. Both parties were somewhat divided on the vote.[12]

DHS Appropriations

Gibson voted in support of HR 2217 - the DHS Appropriations Act (2014) Act of 2014. The bill passed the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 245 - 182 and was largely along party lines.[12]

Keystone Pipeline Amendment

Gibson voted in opposition of House Amendment 69, which would have amended HR 3 to "require that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, conduct a study of the vulnerabilities of the Keystone XL pipeline to a terrorist attack and certify that necessary protections have been put in place." The amendment failed on May 22, 2013, with a vote of 176 - 239 and was largely along party lines.[12]

CISPA (2013)

Gibson voted in opposition of HR 624 - the CISPA (2013). The bill passed the House on April 18, 2013, with a vote of 288 - 127. The bill would allow federal intelligence agencies to share cybersecurity intelligence and information with private entities and utilities.[13] The bill was largely supported by Republicans, but divided the Democratic Party.[12]

The proposal was killed after being voted down in the U.S. Senate with a 40-59 vote.[15]

The proposal would have cut about $5 trillion over the next decade and aimed to balance the budget by the end of the 10-year period.[14] The 2013 bill had opposition from 10 Republicans — the same number that voted against it in 2012. In 2011 only four Republicans cast a vote in opposition.[14] Democrats have unanimously voted against the bill every year.[14]

Government shutdown

On September 30, 2013, the House passed a final stopgap spending bill before the shutdown went into effect. The bill included a one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate and would have also stripped the bill of federal subsidies for congressional members and staff. It passed through the House with a vote of 228-201.[16] At 1 a.m. on October 1, 2013, one hour after the shutdown officially began, the House voted to move forward with going to a conference. In short order, Sen. Harry Reid rejected the call to conference.[17] Gibson voted to approve the stopgap spending bill that would have delayed the individual mandate.[18]

The shutdown finally ended on October 16, 2013, when the House took a vote on HR 2775 after it was approved by the Senate. The bill to reopen the government lifted the $16.7 trillion debt limit and funded the government through January 15, 2014. Federal employees also received retroactive pay for the shutdown period. The only concession made by Senate Democrats was to require income verification for Obamacare subsidies.[19] The House passed the legislation shortly after the Senate, by a vote of 285-144, with all 144 votes against the legislation coming from Republican members. Gibson voted for HR 2775.[20]

Immigration

Morton Memos Prohibition

Gibson voted for House Amendment 136 - Prohibits the Enforcement of the Immigration Executive Order. The amendment was adopted by the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 224 - 201. The purpose of the amendment as stated on the official text is to "prohibit the use of funds to finalize, implement, administer, or enforce the Morton Memos." These memos would have granted administrative amnesty to certain illegal aliens residing in the United States.[21] The vote largely followed party lines.[22]

Healthcare

Repealing Obamacare

Gibson has voted supported all attempts to repeal or delay the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[23]

Social issues

Abortion

Gibson supported HR 1797 - Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The resolution passed the House on June 18, 2013, with a vote of 228 - 196. The purpose of the bill is to ban abortions that would take place 20 or more weeks after fertilization.[24]

Previous congressional sessions

Political positions

In 2010, as a representative of the 20th District, Gibson signed the Americans for Tax Reform Taxpayer Protection Pledge, promising not to vote for any tax increases. Due to redistricting, when Gibson won re-election in 2012, it was as a representative of the 19th District. When asked if Gibson intended to honor the pledge he had signed in 2010, a representative form Gibson's office responded, "Congressman Gibson doesn’t plan to re-sign it for the 19th Congressional District, which he now represents (the pledge is to your constituents of a numbered district).”[25]

Fiscal Cliff

Gibson voted for the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. He was 1 of 85 Republicans that voted in favor of the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257 - 167 vote on January 1, 2013.[26]

Issues

On The Issues Vote Match

On The Issues conducts a VoteMatch analysis of all Congressional members based on 20 issue areas. Rather than relying on incumbents to complete the quiz themselves, the VoteMatch analysis is conducted using voting records, statements to the media, debate transcripts or citations from books authored by or about the candidate. Based on the results of the quiz, Gibson is a Moderate Conservative. Gibson received a score of 32 percent on personal issues and 72 percent on economic issues.[27]

On The Issues organization logo.

The table below contains the results of analysis compiled by staff at On The Issues.

Elections

2014

Gibson ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. House to represent New York's19th District. Gibson ran unopposed for the Republican, Conservative and Independence Party nominations in the primary on June 24, 2014. The general election took place November 4, 2014.

2012

Gibson won re-election in 2012. Following New York's redistricting, Gibson ran in the newly redrawn 19th District.[30] He was unopposed in the Republican, Conservative, and Independence party primaries and defeated Julian Schreibman (D) in the general election on November 6, 2012.[31][32]

Polls

2012

Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign donors

Comprehensive donor information for Gibson is available dating back to 2010. Based on available campaign finance records, Gibson raised a total of $3,942,923 during that time period. This information was last updated on March 23, 2013.[35]

PGI: Net worth

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org, Gibson's net worth as of 2012 was estimated between $100,001 and $250,000. That averages to $175,000.50, which is lower than the average net worth of Republican representatives in 2012 of $7,614,097.96. Gibson ranked as the 356th most wealthy representative in 2012.[48] Between 2009 and 2012, Gibson's calculated net worth[49] decreased by 6.6 percent. Between 2004 and 2014, the average annual percentage increase for a member of Congress was 15.4 percent.[50]

Comparatively, the American citizen experienced a median yearly decline in net worth of -0.94%.[52]

The data used to calculate changes in net worth may include changes resulting from assets gained through marriage, inheritance, changes in family estates and/or trusts, changes in family business ownership and many other variables unrelated to a member's behavior in Congress.

Lifetime voting record

According to the website GovTrack, Gibson missed 10 of 1,708 roll call votes from January 2011 to April 2013, which is 0.6% of votes during that period. This is better than the median of 2.2% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving.[55]

Congressional staff salaries

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Gibson paid his congressional staff a total of $960,983 in 2011. Overall, New York ranked 28th in average salary for representative staff. The average U.S. House of Representatives congressional staff was paid $954,912.20 in fiscal year 2011.[56]

National Journal vote ratings

2012

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of Congress voted in the previous year. Gibson tied with one other member of the U.S. House of Representatives, ranking 174th in the liberal rankings among members of the U.S. House. He is one of 12 Republicans who scored higher on the liberal ranking than they did on the conservative one.
[57]

2011

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of Congress voted in the previous year. Gibson ranked 201st in the liberal rankings among members of the U.S. House.[58]

Voting with party

June 2013

Chris Gibson voted with the Republican Party 81.6% of the time, which ranked 231st among the 234 House Republican members as of June, 2013.

Personal

Gibson has been married to Mary Jo, a NYS Licensed Clinical Social Worker, for over 14 years and they have three children: Katie, Maggie, and Connor. Their home is in Kinderhook where Gibson is active in several civic organizations including the American Legion, VFW, NRA, the Knights of Columbus and St. John’s Church of Valatie.[59]

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term Chris + Gibson + New York + House

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.

↑The questions in the quiz are broken down into two sections -- social and economic. In social questions, liberals and libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while conservatives and populists agree in choosing the more restrictive answers. For the economic questions, conservatives and libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while liberals and populists agree in choosing the more restrictive answers.